Cleaning compositions have been formulated in solid block, particulate and liquid form. Solid forms provide high concentrations of actives, but must be dissolved in water to form a cleaning liquid. Substantial attention in recent years has been directed to liquid detergent concentrates and in particular, liquid detergents in emulsion form. Such detergent concentrates typically are not as highly active as solids and are often greater than 50% water. Detergent emulsion concentrates have been employed as all purpose cleaners, warewashing detergents and in formulations for cleaning hard surfaces by diluting the concentrate with water. Many such concentrates are exemplified by those described in U.S. Pat. Nos. 2,560,839, 3,234,183 and 3,350,319. These formulations comprise substantial proportions of a phosphate sequestrant and other components in an aqueous base. In U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,017,409 and 4,244,840 liquid detergents having reduced phosphate content have been disclosed. Some detergents have been made which are phosphate free such as those described in U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,935,130, 4,786,433 and 4,846,993. Attention has been given to emulsion and microemulsion compositions for use in a variety of applications including softening, hard surface cleaning, etc. Among such disclosures are European Patent Specification Nos. 137615, 137616, and 160762 and U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,561,488 and 4,786,433. Additional formulas of emulsion and microemulsion compositions having varying formulations include U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,723,330, 4,472,291 and 4,540,448. The typical emulsion liquid is less than 60% actives, less than 10% surfactant less than 30-40% alkalinity. Additional formulations of liquid detergent compositions in emulsion form which include hydrocarbons, magnesium salts, terpenes and other ingredients for enhancing cleaning properties include British Patent Specification Nos. 1603047, 2033421, 2144763, European Specification No. 80749 and U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,017,409, 4,414,128 and 4,540,505. Many of these emulsions are not sufficiently phase stable for storage and use in a variety of applications, have reduced actives concentration (comprise greater than 50% water) or display reduced properties compared to other useful forms of detergent or are difficult to manufacture, pump or store.
Miller et al., U.S. Pat. No. 4,230,592; Morris et al., U.S. Pat. No. 5,525,256; and Trabitzsch, Canadian Pat. No. 2,004,895 teach aqueous detergents with relatively low active concentrations. These references all teach relatively low caustic content and relatively low sequestrant and surfactant contents. These materials appear to be fairly simple solutions, without a substantial dispersed portion, of the material in an aqueous medium. The materials can be pumped and used as is.
Substantial attention has been directed to concentrate materials having substantially increased active content that can be manufactured as stable liquids. A need has existed to push the active concentrate of detergent components in the emulsion to 60 to 65% in order to provide the efficacy and performance of solids. These liquids must have a stable viscosity and a handleable viscosity such that the liquid can be reliably pumped from a source of the material to a use locus such as a laundry machine. We have found that, if the materials of the prior art are simply increased in concentration without the introduction of new technology, the resulting materials do not form simple solutions, do not form phase stable emulsions, or often produce materials that have high viscosities and are difficult to pump and use.
While the prior art discloses a variety of liquid emulsion detergent compositions that can be used in a variety of forms, the prior art does not provide a stable aqueous emulsion with a high active cleaning composition that is easy to manufacture, has acceptable cleaning properties in laundry, warewashing and other uses, is pumpable in conventional liquid detergent dispensers and are compatible with typical industrial or institutional cleaning equipment. We have filled a substantial need in improving emulsion stability using emulsion particle size, emulsion viscosity and cleaning properties by improving emulsion formulations and methods of manufacture. A substantially improved emulsion detergent composition, methods of its use and methods of preparation have been discovered and are disclosed below.